Congress: PDP raising alarm over repeal of Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir is an attempt to deceive people

Jammu: The Congress on Monday targeted the ruling PDP in Jammu and Kashmir over alleged attempts to abrogate Article 35A of the Constitution which empowers the state's legislature to define its "permanent residents" and accord special rights and privileges to them.

File image of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. AFP

"Raising an alarm on the attempts of abrogation of Article 35A by the PDP leaders was yet another chameleon attempt by them to deceive the people of Jammu and Kashmir," senior Congress leader Tariq Hameed Karra said in a statement tonight.

Karra, a former PDP leader who resigned as the MP from Srinagar, appealed to the people to realise that tinkering with Article 35A could take away the right of state subject certificate, which otherwise, was protecting the distinct identity of the state.

The former finance minister said that he had cautioned the PDP against allying with the BJP.

The Congress leader said, "Now that Chief Minster Mehbooba Mufti has raised a warning against abrogation of Article 35A, she actually has endorsed my stand and justified my moral ground for quitting the PDP."

Mehbooba should have shown the "high moral ground" at the time of "recobbling and renegotiating" the alliance with the BJP after her father and chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's death, he said.

Had that been the case, "the situation would have been different", he claimed.

Karra said, "The PDP leadership is now trying to use the slogans again in order to shield their misdeeds and misadventures."

"But the people are now too wise to fall prey to the chameleon politics of the PDP," he added.